Jim Fenton has worked at The Enterprise since 1981 and began covering the Celtics in the 1985-86 championship season when Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish formed the Big 3. He was seated courtside for nearly every home game during the 22-
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Jim Fenton has worked at The Enterprise since 1981 and began covering the Celtics in the 1985-86 championship season when Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish formed the Big 3. He was seated courtside for nearly every home game during the 22-year title drought that came to an end in 2008 when the new Big 3 of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen turned things around.

The Celtics held what will turn out to be their final practice on Tuesday, unless they can fight off elimination at the hands of the New York Knicks one more time.

After losing the first three games of the opening-round series, the Celtics survived in overtime on Sunday and now play Game 5 at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night.

The Celtics dropped the first two games of the series after holding leads at halftime. They will need a consistent effort in order to force a Game 6 on Friday night.

"The first two games in New York, we played well for one half,'' said Paul Pierce, "but that one quarter, we had mental lapses, lost focus, and they picked up the energy and defense and had us on our heels. We have to be cautious of that.''

The Celtics were better offensively in Game 4 after averaging 75 points in the first three games, and that will be the key to Game 5.

"It's clear when we play a certain way, in the attack mode, not settling offensively, moving the ball, scoring in transition, that we are hard to stop,'' said Coach Doc Rivers. "It's also clear when we get in the half court and slow the ball down, we're not thath ard to stop. That's obvious.''

No NBA team has ever overcome a 3-0 defiicit to win a series, and only three teams have rallied to force a Game 7.

"We're still confident, still riding high from last game,'' said Jeff Green. "Hopefully the emotions we have from the last game carry on to the game (Wednesday) and we continue to play the way we did.''

Said Jason Terry: "The pressure's on us. We don't want to go home. We've got to come out, Game 7, every possession, every shot, every defensive stop. It means that much. If you come in with that approach, you're going to put yourself in a position to win.''